A federal judge in New Mexico has put a halt to the RIAA alleging that “John Doe” is illegally downloading files. In this particular case, the RIAA has named “Does 1-16″ in the lawsuit in an attempt to get the names of students at the University of New Mexico.
The RIAA uses this John Doe approach to gain subpoenas from the courts. They then use those subpoenas to force ISPs to identify the people infringing on copyright infringement/illegal downloading. Sometimes the ISP settles with RIAA before a single person can be named. Either way the RIAA wins. This may not be the case for this lawsuit in New Mexico.
The judge has ordered the record labels and UNM to work an “appropriate process” outside of the courts. The RIAA claims that this will hinder their lawsuit, but they will continue with the process. The RIAA will have to contact the head lawyer at UNM and agree on a “fair and reasonable process that would allow Plaintiffs to identify limited information about the subscribers.” If they cannot, the courts will have to step in.
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